The Jefferson Discussion Group of Orlando

Home

Press Release

Monthly Topics

Mailing List

Contact Us



The Thomas Jefferson Discussion Group
of Orlando, Florida

Meeting No. 36 - April 20, 2004
Holiday House Restaurant, Orlando, Florida



THIS MONTH'S TOPIC:
THE WAR ON TERRORISM


Was Jefferson right when he said that the people in Iraq will be free?

Strange question since Jefferson died in 1826 and Iraq was formed after World War I in 1920 by the League of Nations ­ an artifact of the British Empire's successful effort to help the tribes of the region free themselves from the Turks of the Ottoman Empire - remember T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia)? Ironically, as a League of Nations mandate, Iraq erupted in violence after liberation, just as it has now.

Or, is the question so strange?

When Jefferson said governments are formed by the people to help secure the people's "unalienable" to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness he just didn't mean white European people.

"I sincerely pray that all the members of the human family may, in the time prescribed by the Father of us all, find themselves securely established in the enjoyment of life, liberty, and happiness."
--Thomas Jefferson: Reply to Ellicot Thomas, et al., 1807.

"Instead of that liberty which takes root and growth in the progress of reason, if recovered by mere force or accident, it becomes with an unprepared people a tyranny still of the many, the few, or the one."
--Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1815.

Also, the inalienable rights Jefferson specifies are natural or God given ­ take your pick. As such, it is not possible for us to choose whether we want them or not. They are imbedded in our being ­ we cannot separate ourselves from them, deny their existence, or withhold them from any other human being.




Home

Press Release

Monthly Topics

Mailing List

Contact Us

© The Jefferson Project, All Rights Reserved
webmaster@thejeffersonproject.org